1491 New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
by Charles C. Mann
Sign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of this book.
discuss this book
| topics | replies | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Twilight saga rol...: Book recomendations | 3 | 12 | 15 days ago, 03:10PM |
groups with this book
friend reviews (0)
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
lists with this book
Where's the love? Add this book to your favorite list.
other reviews (showing 1-20 of 2329)
Read in September, 2007
The survey of current thinking on the population of the americas via that Beringia land bridge and the subsequent summary of the evolutions of early american society is interesting.
But the repeated comparisons between american society and eurasian society are really fraught and often belabored. The comparisons between the two hemisphere's agriculture is fine, but the assertion that Aztec (apparently it's more politically correct to call them Mexica) philosophy was as rich as medieval europe...more
But the repeated comparisons between american society and eurasian society are really fraught and often belabored. The comparisons between the two hemisphere's agriculture is fine, but the assertion that Aztec (apparently it's more politically correct to call them Mexica) philosophy was as rich as medieval europe...more
Like this review?
yes
(4 people liked it)
1 comments
Read in July, 2007
recommends it for:
readers of history, ethnohistory, First Nations history
As someone who writes professionally in this area (unabashed plug: watch for God's Mercies, Doubleday Canada, in October 07) I have high praise for this title, a long-overdue assessment of native culture and civilization before (and at) contact with Europeans. I'm still reading it, but I've been impressed so far.[I've now finished, see below.:] Anyone who enjoyed it should also consider Elaine Dewar's Bones, which explores the archaeological controversy of how long people have been in the New Wo...more
Like this review?
yes
(3 people liked it)
add a comment
Confession: I never finished this, leaving about 50 pages (about 15%)on the table. With non-fiction books that are based around a particular theory I feel like as long as I read enough to internalize the argument and really understand some of the evidence I can stop reading when I get bored. If I missed some revelation on page 420 somebody let me know.
The key takeaway here: American societies were almost certainly older, larger, more technically advanced and more complex than they are gi...more
The key takeaway here: American societies were almost certainly older, larger, more technically advanced and more complex than they are gi...more
Like this review?
yes
(2 people liked it)
1 comments
Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
Non-specialists
Author Charles Mann's purpose is to debunk three commonly held ideas about the Americas before Columbus: that the continents were sparsely populated, that the social and technical development was limited and that the locals left the environment untouched.
In discussing scholarly debates on these subjects, he convincingly argues that the population, before the decimation of disease, was quite high. The debate is just how many people there were rather than whether the continents were pristine u...more
In discussing scholarly debates on these subjects, he convincingly argues that the population, before the decimation of disease, was quite high. The debate is just how many people there were rather than whether the continents were pristine u...more
Like this review?
yes
(2 people liked it)
add a comment
Read in August, 2007
So the major thing to note here is that this is a history of the inhabitants of pre-Columbian Western Hemisphere... written by a feature journalist. It has a lot of straight history, but also a lot of information gleaned from non-standard or new techniques, such as archaeology, forensic science, and linguistics. Oh, and actually talking to folks who identify as indigenous -- who are, lots of them, still around.
A fair amount of the material was familiar to me from taking Colonial Latin Americ...more
A fair amount of the material was familiar to me from taking Colonial Latin Americ...more
Like this review?
yes
(2 people liked it)
add a comment
Read in June, 2007
recommends it for:
everyone
Very well written, a good mixture of factual evidence and narrative. The main take home point here should be known to everyone, especially Americans. There is a reason why there was a period of 128 years between Colombus' landing and a permanent European settlement in North America. Namely, there were millions of Native Americans there who thought Europeans were dirty, amusing creatures who had interesting objects but were not fit for being neighbors. Attempted European settlers were continuousl...more
Like this review?
yes
(2 people liked it)
add a comment
Read in December, 2006
A very interesting look at pre-Conquest America, containing some relatively new (and far from established) academic theories. The main thesis of the book is that pre-Columbian American societies were far more advanced and populous than recorded by European colonists/invaders/priests. The successive waves of epidemics brought by European contact decimated the Americas to such an extent that these societies caved into anarchy and ruin, which was seen as their original condition by the new arriva...more
Like this review?
yes
(2 people liked it)
add a comment
This book is a fascinating window into the cultures of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus. Author Charles Mann, an award-winning writer for Science and The Atlantic Monthly, debunks many widely held notions about the inhabitants of the Western Hemisphere. With a contagious excitement, Mann shares recent discoveries of archeologists, historians and geographers, many of which up-end previously accepted beliefs.
Mann presents new research showing that the population numbers of Ameri...more
Mann presents new research showing that the population numbers of Ameri...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in August, 2008
This book could be good. Unfortunately the author seems determined in every part of his "research" to interject his own opinion without duly backing it up. I stopped reading it somewhere around page 100, where the author makes the comparison between ritual human sacrifice by the Aztecs and executions in European countries. By taking the executions in England for a 100 year period, then adjusting for the size of the English population compared to the estimated possible population of the...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in July, 2008
Excellent collation of research on Indian history that has sparked controversy not only in the discipline of history but sustainable ecology - it trenchantly organizes and presents evidence not completely unknown to myself, but not presented for collective impact on the knowledgeable generalist until now. Viewed as a whole, it cogently elaborates the controversies and agendas driving various parties, Indian and white, archaelologist and environmentalist, seeking to influence not only how people ...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in July, 2008
recommends it for:
amateur historians
As a result of decades of revisionist history (as well as flat-out incorrect but sincere assumptions by scientists), most people have come to see pre-Columbian America as an Edenic wilderness inhabited by pure-hearted indigenous folk living lightly on the land, leaving nary a footprint outside their biodegradable sweatlodges.
Yet Mann shows us a densely populated, fiercely impacted hemisphere where no one was indigenous (they all came from somewhere else), much of the land repeatedly went up ...more
Yet Mann shows us a densely populated, fiercely impacted hemisphere where no one was indigenous (they all came from somewhere else), much of the land repeatedly went up ...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
1 comments
What we think of when we think of the pre-Columbian Americas -- a wilderness lightly occupied by primitive tribes -- was in fact only the tiny remnants of a sophisticated and highly evolved society which had been ravaged by European disease, largely before Europeans could ever make contact with them.
That is the provocative thesis of this thoughtful and thorough look at what existed in this hemisphere before 1491, and what happened to it in 1492. While it sounds like a tired politically corre...more
That is the provocative thesis of this thoughtful and thorough look at what existed in this hemisphere before 1491, and what happened to it in 1492. While it sounds like a tired politically corre...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in July, 2008
1491 challenged my preconception of American life before it was “discovered” by Columbus. In school I was taught that Indians had minimal impact on the world we know today. The Indians I was told were few in numbers, they were weak as proved by how they were thoroughly conquered by opposing forces a fraction of the population of Indian, they were hunter/gatherers who had no impact on their environment and that as a whole they did not have much of an impact on European society.
The book ch...more
The book ch...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in November, 2007
A semi-engaging analysis of life before the European discovery of the Americas, and extrapolation from newly discovered information on the depth and breadth of native culture and society pre-contact.
I picked up as this is a subject of cursory interest to me, and I indeed learned a lot. The biggest problem I had with the book was that Mann often used a less than engaging style in his narrative. I sometimes felt like I was reading a textbook, and while I may not necessarily mind that somet...more
I picked up as this is a subject of cursory interest to me, and I indeed learned a lot. The biggest problem I had with the book was that Mann often used a less than engaging style in his narrative. I sometimes felt like I was reading a textbook, and while I may not necessarily mind that somet...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in May, 2008
This is an extremely dense read and tends to drag in the first chapter. However it is a great, basic introduction to various archaeological theories and research about natives cultures in the Americas before Columbus. At times it gets boring reading various scientific research however this helps to explain much of the theories and debates. For example, Mann delves into the theory that European diseases and sickness helped to decimate native populations and goes into DNA and mitochondrial DNA....more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in January, 2008
Full Title: 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
Overall, 1491 provided a fascinating and fresh perspective on history as a lively, evolving field of knowledge--not the stuff of dry textbooks at all. My primary criticism of the book is that it is difficult to keep a sense of chronology without taking notes; the book is divided into different cultures and the research and theories behind their histories--not a chronological ordering of developments in the continents. Of the ma...more
Overall, 1491 provided a fascinating and fresh perspective on history as a lively, evolving field of knowledge--not the stuff of dry textbooks at all. My primary criticism of the book is that it is difficult to keep a sense of chronology without taking notes; the book is divided into different cultures and the research and theories behind their histories--not a chronological ordering of developments in the continents. Of the ma...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in January, 2006
recommends it for:
anyone
Mann is not a historian, but rather is a journalist. And for that reason, this book does read like a history text (like Guns, Germs, and Steel). But it is exceptionally researched and fantastic.
Mann describes North and South America in a way that traditional textbooks and contemporary rhetoric never acknowledges. He combats the old-fashioned and anti-academic beliefs that pervade our Eurocentric version of world history (summed up in what he calls "Holmberg's Mistake," a rea...more
Mann describes North and South America in a way that traditional textbooks and contemporary rhetoric never acknowledges. He combats the old-fashioned and anti-academic beliefs that pervade our Eurocentric version of world history (summed up in what he calls "Holmberg's Mistake," a rea...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
1 comments
Read in June, 2008
recommended to SCIENCEFICTION SQRL by:
Making Lightrecommends it for: everyone
Non-fiction writers who produce prose as dry as the Negev should take a leaf out of Mann's highly readable, very enjoyable, and, most important of all, enlightening book.
Mann provides an overview of recent research regarding the extent of city-building and agriculture in North and Meso America in the thousands of years prior to Columbus's arrival in 1492. Exposing the "pristine myth", Mann explores sophisticated societies, methods of agriculture, and writing systems that have no E...more
Mann provides an overview of recent research regarding the extent of city-building and agriculture in North and Meso America in the thousands of years prior to Columbus's arrival in 1492. Exposing the "pristine myth", Mann explores sophisticated societies, methods of agriculture, and writing systems that have no E...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
1 comments
Read in November, 2008
The Americas stumbled on by Columbus had more people living in them than were living in Europe, and American societies were at least as complex as any found in Europe. The author surveys the lastest work of anthropologists, archeaologists, and historians demonstrating, among other things, that pre-Columbian Americans had found ways to create soil in the Amazon to assist agriculture, alter crops genetically so they could feed large populations living in cities,trade goods over long distances, ere...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2007
Great book on newer information about life in the Americas before Columbus. Great information challenging long held beliefs about ancient American civilizations. I strongly recommend this book.
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment